NEC begs Labour to postpone the strike and requests patience

Vice President Kashim Shettima’s National Economic Council (NEC) urged Organized Labor to postpone the planned indefinite nationwide strike scheduled to begin on Tuesday, October 3, 2023.

Caleb Mutfwang, the governor of Plateau State, gave a briefing to State House reporters after the NEC meeting at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja. He said that the Council had requested labor leaders to resume negotiations at the state level.

According to Mutfwang, Council believed that keeping the debate going would be better for the economy, particularly at the state level.

“Council noted the notice by the national leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress to proceed on an indefinite strike from October 3, 2023.

‘’The Council noted further the implication of this strike for the economy and the nation and thus urged members to continue to engage with the leadership of their respective states and to appeal to them to shelve the action and continue on the path of dialogue with the federal government. This is the appeal of Council,” the governor said.

The governor detailed the position of most of the states when the various governors left on May 29, outlining the reasons for NEC’s plea and noting that several of them had just ended protracted industrial strikes.

He claims that implementing a fresh strike at this time will hurt the economy even more.

Despite the fact that there were feelers indicating that leadership at every level sincerely wanted the issues presented by labor handled once and for all, he pleaded for additional time for the government to work on addressing their concerns.

The governor said: “NEC actually expressed genuine concern on the situation in the country and appreciates the concern by Labour to have those issues addressed. That is why NEC is appealing for patience, appealing for time to be able to address the concerns of Labour. We also believe that Mr. President will be addressing the nation first of October and some of the concerns of Labour will be appropriately addressed in the President’s speech.

“It is, therefore, important that… it’s a federation, so whatever happens Labour is represented in all the 36 states and the FCT and NEC is appealing that discussions should continue at the state levels because there will be peculiarities as to the issues to be addressed concerning the demands of Labour, therefore dialogue is the way to go.

“The nation is at a very critical moment at this time, some of the states, when they took over on May 29, the workers were on strike, some of those issues have just been resolved for the workers to return to work. To ask them to go back immediately, it’s going to further damage the economy.

“Therefore, NEC, while expressing genuine concern about the situation in the country, appeals for calm and patience and I want to believe that the leadership across the nation at this point in time wants to truly address the issues that concern labour and the general populace and move the country forward.’’